-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- He is in that landing pattern that middle-aged heartthrobs finally come to : time for home and family and a woman who is worthy of keeping his love .

The 50-plus Oscar winner , producer and political activist George Clooney is apparently engaged to be married . He 's at a particularly pivotal age . Forget about the 50s being the new 40s -- the 50s are really very specific . Even the most youthful people will start thinking about the meaning of life as the years no longer stretch out in a fantasy of infinity . Those years between 50 and 60 do seem to be a particularly poignant age for men , especially the kind of man who has trouble giving up motorcycles .

Sometime in this period , the thrill seekers and lust lovers get their whiff of mortality -LRB- perhaps because of their latest motorcycle accident -RRB- and they turn to love with a new sense of its gravitas . With a nod to the motivation most of us mortals have , they are ready for an emotional legacy . -LRB- Hint : watch for children -RRB-

It might irk Clooney to be seen as so predictable . He 's a gifted , idiosyncratic , goes-his-own-way , irreverent kind of guy . But he has been practicing for this life transition in full view . In his films , he has played lost middle-aged men , lost in their careers , lost in neglected marriages , lost because of a lack of connection to something important -- `` Up in the Air , '' `` The Descendents , '' `` Michael Clayton , '' among others . Many of these men reshuffle their lives , readjust their principles or at least find some self knowledge they sorely lacked .

What we know about Amal Alamuddin

If the reports of his engagement are true , this is kind of what Clooney has done , and what a lot of professionally single men ultimately come to do , especially about love . His apparent fiancee , Amal Alamuddin , is an accomplished and wordly lawyer . Clooney 's doing that middle-aged love choice . He 's picking a woman of substance as well as beauty -- the kind of woman you would want as friend and counselor , the kind of woman who would have the genes to be the mother of your children -- and it 's now , because it suddenly dawns on you that you have no time to lose .

In this scenario of the chastened older Lothario , the candidate is young enough to lust after and smart enough for impregnation . It 's not that women , especially stars , do n't come to the same point as Clooney and end up in the same position . But biology forces them to make the comparable choice at least a decade or so earlier . Unlike a woman his age , Clooney can do the whole settling-down gambit at almost any age . But he probably understood some ages are better for this than others .

I know this is n't very romantic , but the timing is -- whether the 50-something group knows it or not -- guided by the Grim Reaper . If that sounds bad , it 's not .

Middle age is an important time for reassessment and course correction . No matter how bright your star , you know that only so much time is left to have a profound relationship and , perhaps , a family . This is the real anchor of middle-aged love : It 's time to stop fooling around .

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Pepper Schwartz : George Clooney is allegedly engaged in his 50s , a pivotal age

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Schwartz : `` Lust lovers '' get a sense of mortality in their 50s and start taking love seriously

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Clooney has played lost , unconnected middle-aged men in his films , she says

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Schwartz : Middle age is at time for reassessment and correcting your life 's course